Our team attended the 2018 GAPP Awards as we had been nominated in multiple categories for awards.
We had submitted 15 entries into the various categories of print and signage. We received the call that we had won 11 awards but we didnt know in which categories or which awards we had won in the those various categories. Excited, we put a team together to go represent Sharpline Signs and Graphics at the 2019 GAPP Awards held in Johannesburg. Our team drove up and arrived there on the day of the awards, excited and ready to win. Once we had been ushered through, we arrived in a large hall where all the entries had been displayed, but again with no awards or placements next to them. Some of our awards were quite hidden so we thought we had already lost a few categories or at least got the lowest placement.
Well after a while and looking at all the excellent submissions into these awards, we were allowed to take our seats among SA’s best in the printing industry.
First Category – First Gold
Our first category came up, Rigid Substrates. We know we have entered into this category.
Winning achiever is announced and we hear our name for our direct print to board for Reef. Emotions are low. Bronze is announced and we hear Sharpline. Smiles all around as Guardians of the Galaxy direct to chromadek print is revealed.. Silver is announced and no Sharpline. Well, no gold but 2 awards is pretty good. Then gold is announced and its SHARPLINE SIGNS AND GRAPHICS. Well, we didnt even know how to compose ourselves. 3 Awards in 1 category . 1 Achiever, 1 Silver and 1 Gold!!
Anton De Waal, a senior graphic designer at Sharpline, goes up to receive the gold award for rigid substrates.
Second Category – Second Gold
The next category is announced in the printing industry. With great anticipation, we sit and wait to hear our fate. Paper substrates. Winning achievers get announced and Sharpline is in with another award for KEY Isuzu MUx Poster. We forget we had 2 entries into this category and well just accepted another award to add in. It gets to Gold and SHARPLINE SIGNS AND GRAPHICS is awarded another gold award for printing on poster paper. 2 Categories down and we were sitting with 2 Golds, 1 Bronze and 2 Achievers with more entries to go.
Chris Da Costa, a senior graphic designer at Sharpline, goes up to receive the award for this category.
The next category, we never entered into but some very good prints came from it. We knew for next time that we could enter into this.
Fourth Category – Another Gold
Fourth category – Flexible substrates. We in this category and very excited for the results as this was one of our best prints. Achiever, Bronze and Silver announced and we are nowhere to be seen or heard. Gold – SHARPLINE SIGNS AND GRAPHICS. The team jumps with excitement as we claim another gold in the 2018 GAPP Awards. Our print was for Maybelline and printed on backlit foam.
We are now on 3 Golds, 1 Bronze, 2 Achievers and still more to go.
Glen Wayman, a senior graphic designer at Sharpline, goes up to receive the award for this category.
The rest of the awards categories go on and keeping it simple we received more awards but no more golds.
We received the following additional awards:
2 Silvers – Non Printed Products and XXL Prints
1 Bronze – Vehicle Branding
2 Achievers – Vehicle Branding and 3D POS Boards
This was a great achievement for Sharpline Signs and Graphics – concreting us as a leading signage supplier in Durban, in KZN, in South Africa and the African continent. We have seen our strengths and competed against some very good companies across South Africa. We look forward to the next GAPP Awards in 2020 where we will showcase our work again and hope to seal ourselves as the best of the best in printing and branding sector in the country of South Africa.
